GRB 200522A
GCN Circular 28127
Subject
GRB 200522A: HST NIR counterpart confirmation
Date
2020-07-17T04:04:46Z (5 years ago)
From
Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U <wfong@northwestern.edu>
W. Fong (Northwestern), C. D. Kilpatrick (UCSC), J. Rastinejad (Northwestern), T. Laskar (U. Bath), and E. Berger (Harvard) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
���We report on new HST/WFC3 IR observations (PI: Berger; Program 15964) of the short GRB 200522A (Evans et al., GCN 27778) in the F125W and F160W filters at approximately 55 days post-burst. A total of 5223-s was obtained in both filters and the resulting images are deep enough to provide adequate templates for all previous epochs (F125W at 3.6 and 16.4 days, and F160W at 3.6 days; Fong et al., GCN 27826; Kilpatrick et al., GCN 27904). An independent analysis of the first two epochs of data resulted in a candidate afterglow (O���Connor et al., GCN 28100).
To constrain the presence of any transient sources, we first performed image subtraction between the observations in each filter taken at 3.6 days and the new 55-day templates using the HOTPANTS software (Becker 2015). In the difference images, we detect a high-significance residual within the XRT position (Beardmore et al., GCN 27780) and close to the host galaxy center in both filters. Given the contamination from residuals as a result of the core of the host galaxy, accurate photometry of the source will require further analysis.
We also perform image subtraction between the F125W observations at 16.4 days and 55 days. The source is no longer detected to a 3-sigma limit of m_F125W>27.3 AB mag. The fading behavior, coupled with the detection at 3.6 days in both filters, confirms the source as the counterpart to GRB 200522A. Based on our preliminary analysis, we cannot distinguish between whether the emission is resulting from the afterglow alone, or a combination of afterglow and kilonova emission.
We thank the HST staff for scheduling and implementing these observations.���
GCN Circular 28100
Subject
GRB 200522A: Candidate Optical/nIR Counterpart from Gemini and HST Imaging
Date
2020-07-14T19:19:42Z (5 years ago)
From
Brendan O'Connor at UMD <oconnorb@umd.edu>
B. O'Connor (GWU, UMD), S. Dichiara (UMD, NASA-GSFC),
E. Troja (UMD, NASA-GSFC), S.B. Cenko (UMD, NASA-GSFC)
report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We report on further observations of the short GRB 200522A (Evans et al.,
GCN Circ. 27778) taken at 3.1 and 9.1 d post-burst in the r-band filter
with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) mounted on the 8.1m Gemini
North telescope. Image subtraction with HOTPANTS (Becker 2015) identifies
a low significance residual close to the candidate host galaxy's center
(Fong et al., GCN Circ. 27779; Strausbaugh et al., GCN Circ. 27792),
and at the edge of the XRT enhanced position (Beardmore et al., GCN Circ.
27780). We independently reanalyzed the HST images (Fong et al., GCN Circ.
27827; Kilpatrick et al., GCN Circ. 27904), and performed image subtraction
between the two epochs at 3.5 and 16.3 d. Although the analysis is
complicated by the presence of a bright galaxy's nucleus, a residual signal
of brightness F125W ~ 25.6 AB mag is present at the location of the Gemini
optical candidate. We suggest this to be the candidate optical/nIR
counterpart of GRB 200522A. The observed magnitude is much brighter than
expected for a kilonova like AT2017gfo, and suggests that the afterglow
emission is the dominant component. The projected offset from the galaxy's
nucleus is ~0.23 arcseconds, corresponding to 1.5 kpc at redshift z = 0.554
(Dichiara et al., GCN Circ. 28038). This physical offset is low yet not
unprecedented, falling in the bottom 15% of the short GRB offset
distribution
(Fong & Berger, 2013).
We thank the Gemini North staff for efficiently executing
these observations.
GCN Circular 28038
Subject
GRB 200522A: Gemini North spectroscopy of the putative host galaxy
Date
2020-06-29T14:52:45Z (5 years ago)
From
Simone Dichiara at UMCP/NASA/GSFC <dichiara@umd.edu>
S.Dichiara (UMD, NASA-GSFC), B. O'Connor (GWU, UMD) , E. Troja (UMD,
NASA-GSFC) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We obtained a spectrum of the putative host galaxy (Fong et al., GCN Circ.
27779; Strausbaugh et al., GCN Circ. 27792) of the short GRB 200522A (Evans
et al., GCN Circ. 27778) with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph mounted
on the Gemini North telescope. Observations began at 13:22 UT on June 27,
2020 (36 days after the Swift trigger) and cover the wavelength range from
5000-9900 A.
The spectra shows several well detected emission lines which we interpret
as [OII] 3727, H-beta, and [OIII] 5007 at a common redshift of z=0.554.
We thank the Gemini North staff for efficiently executing these
observations in these difficult times.
GCN Circular 27904
Subject
GRB 200522A: Further HST F125W Observations
Date
2020-06-08T02:28:35Z (5 years ago)
From
Charles Kilpatrick at UC Santa Cruz <cdkilpat@ucsc.edu>
C. D. Kilpatrick (UCSC), J. Rastinejad, W. Fong (Northwestern), and E. Berger (Harvard) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
"We report on further HST/WFC3 IR observations (PI: Berger; Program 15964) of the short GRB 200522A (Evans et al., GCN 27778). Subsequent to the previous F125W observations obtained 3.6 days post-burst (Fong et al., GCN 27826), we initiated a second epoch in the F125W filter starting on 2020 June 7.805 UT. A total of 4823-sec of exposure time was obtained (approximately 7 minutes shallower than the previous epoch), at a mid-time of ~16.4 days.
The previously-identified point-like Source C (Fong et al., GCN 27827) has an estimated m_f125W ~ 26.8 AB mag, fully consistent with our previous estimate. This indicates that this source has not faded and is unlikely to be related to the GRB.
To constrain the presence of any transient sources, we performed image subtraction between the two F125W epochs using the HOTPANTS software (Becker 2015). The difference image reveals low significance (<3 sigma) residuals, the brightest of which is located at RA = 00:22:43.62, Dec = -00:16:58.90 (J2000) with m_f125w = 28.1 AB mag. This position is close to the LCO candidate (e.g., Strausbaugh et al., GCN 27792) but inconsistent with the VLA candidate (Fong et al., GCN 27786).
There are otherwise no obvious high-significance residuals consistent with the VLA or LCO candidates, or around the XRT position. We caution that the difference image is contaminated by the center of the bright galaxy, and analysis is ongoing. Firm conclusions will require a deep template observation.
We thank the HST staff for quickly implementing these observations."
GCN Circular 27827
Subject
GRB 200522A: HST F125W new point source detection
Date
2020-05-26T16:30:44Z (5 years ago)
From
Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U <wfong@northwestern.edu>
W. Fong (Northwestern), C. D. Kilpatrick (UCSC), J. Rastinejad (Northwestern) and E. Berger (Harvard) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
"We report on further HST/WFC3 observations of GRB200522A (Evans et al., GCN 27778) taken under Program 15964 in the F125W filter. A total of 5223-sec of exposure time was obtained roughly at the same mid-time of ~3.6 days. We detect sources A and B (Fong et al., GCN 27826), as well as an additional point-like source C at:
RA(J2000) = 00:22:43.62
Dec(J2000) = -00:16:57.56
This position is ~1.2" away from the center of the LCO faint source position (Strausbaugh et al., GCN 27794), ~1.5" offset from Source A, and at the edge of the XRT position (90% confidence). While there is some contamination from the host galaxy that introduces uncertainty, we estimate a magnitude for Source C of m(F125W)~26.8 +/- 0.3 AB mag. Regarding the LCO source, the positional offset, coupled with the fact that Source C is considerably fainter than extrapolations based on afterglow evolution, suggests that the potential LCO source and Source C are not related.
The color of Source C is blue, with F125W-F160W < -0.4 mag. This color is more consistent with those of afterglows (-0.3 mag) than the corresponding redder color of the kilonova of GW170817 (~0.2-0.4 mag; comparing to rest-frame z-J assuming z~0.4). However, further observations are necessary to determine the nature of this source, assess its variability, and its relation to GRB 200522A."
GCN Circular 27826
Subject
GRB 200522A: Hubble Space Telescope Near-IR F160W Observations
Date
2020-05-26T14:43:47Z (5 years ago)
From
Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U <wfong@northwestern.edu>
W. Fong (Northwestern), E. Berger (Harvard), J. Rastinejad (Northwestern) and C. D. Kilpatrick (UCSC) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
"We initiated Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations of the field of GRB 200522A (Evans et al., GCN 27778; Beardmore et al., GCN 27780) under Program 15964 (PI: Berger). We obtained WFC3/IR imaging in the F160W band, at a mid-time on 2020 May 26.077 UT (3.6 days post-burst). A total of 5223-sec of exposure time was obtained.
Coincident with the XRT position (90% confidence), we detect two clearly extended sources, Sources A and B. We perform absolute astrometry with SDSS DR12 and use WFC3 tabulated zeropoints to determine the following:
Source A:
RA(J2000) = 00:22:43.72
Dec(J2000) = -00:16:57.46
m(F160W) = 20.7 AB mag
Source B:
RA(J2000) = 00:22:43.82
Dec(J2000) = -00:16:59.54
m(F160W) = 23.7 AB mag.
Source A is the catalogued SDSS galaxy (Fong et al., GCN 27786) and exhibits a disturbed morphology, while Source B is considerably fainter. The angular offsets from the XRT positional center are ~2.0" and ~2.1", and the light of both galaxies are ~50% encompassed by the XRT position (90% confidence). Using NIR number counts, we estimate Pchance ~ 0.01 and 0.11 for Sources A and B, respectively.
We do not detect any additional sources, point-like or extended, within the XRT position or at the position of the additional LCO optical source (Strausbaugh et al., GCN 27794) to a 3-sigma limiting magnitude of m(F160W)>27.2 mag.
Assuming an optical decline rate of F~t^-1 from the time of the LCO faint source detection (R~22.57; Strausbaugh et al., GCNs 27792, 27794) to 3.6 days, and typical afterglow colors, the expected afterglow magnitude is m(F160W)~23.6 mag, which is >3 mag brighter than the HST limit. If we assume that a jet break occurred at t~1 day, this still results in expected afterglow magnitudes of ~25.5 mag, >1 mag brighter than the HST limit. We thus conclude that either the LCO source is not real, or that the afterglow exhibited a very steep decline of t^-3.5 or steeper beyond ~1 day.
At the redshift of the putative host galaxy of z~0.4 (Fong et al., GCN 27786), F160W roughly corresponds to rest-frame J-band. Scaling the J-band kilonova light curve of GW170817 (Villar et al. 2017: ApJL, 851, L21) to z~0.4, we find that the HST limit is slightly deeper than the kilonova of GW170817 at the same time.
The results of WFC3/F125W observations, which have been taken but are not yet available, will be discussed in an upcoming circular. We thank the HST staff for quickly implementing these observations."
GCN Circular 27822
Subject
GRB 200522A: Gemini North optical imaging
Date
2020-05-25T21:11:47Z (5 years ago)
From
Simone Dichiara at UMCP/NASA/GSFC <dichiara@umd.edu>
S.Dichiara (UMD, NASA-GSFC), B. O'Connor (GWU, UMD) , E. Troja (UMD,
NASA-GSFC) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We observed the field of GRB 200522A (Evans et al., GCN Circ. 27778) with
the Gemini North telescope beginning 2020-05-24 14:36:32 UT, approximately
2.12 days post-burst. We obtained 7x90s exposures in r-band performed with
poor weather conditions and at an airmass of 2.9.
We measure an AB magnitude of r=21.37 +/- 0.10 for the putative host galaxy
(Fong et al., GCN Circ. 27779; Strausbaugh et al., GCN Circ. 27792).
No other object is detected within the enhanced Swift-XRT position
(Beardmore et al., GCN Circ. 27780) down to a 3-sigma limit r>22.3 AB.
Magnitudes are calibrated against the SDSS catalog and not corrected for
Galactic extinction.
Further observations are on-going.
A Chandra ToO has been approved for this burst.
We thank the Gemini North staff for efficiently executing these
observations in these difficult times.
GCN Circular 27794
Subject
GRB 200522A: Correction to GCN 27792
Date
2020-05-23T21:26:23Z (5 years ago)
From
Robert Strausbaugh at U. of the Virgin Islands <robert.strausbaugh@uvi.edu>
R. Strausbaugh (U. of the Virgin Islands), A. Cucchiara (U. of the Virgin Islands/College of Marin) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
Upon further analysis, the LCO observations reported in GCN 27792 clearly show two possible sources consistent with the XRT enhanced position (Beardmore et al., GCN 27780).
One source is located at ra, dec=(00:22:43.66,-00:16:58.59), 0.72 arc seconds from the center of the XRT enhanced position. The magnitudes of this source are the following:
R = 22.57 +/- 0.29
I > 20.39
A second source, which is located at ra, dec=(00:22:43.69,-00:16:57.37), 1.08 arcesonds from the center of the XRT localization is likely consistent with the potential host galaxy and magnitude were reported in GCN 27792